So... This was a little over 9,000 words pre-edit. Apologies for this being out a little late. I was expecting to write about half as much tbh
Thank you so much to the new follows and favourites and those of you who review, I'm glad you're enjoying the ride.
"Bastard look at me!"
"Naruto, leave it," Kakashi ordered harshly.
"But-."
"Neji is strong, so what you need to do is show him you're strong too," he explained. "In the third exam, win. Win until you face him and then take him down. Don't make any more of a scene here than you already have. Don't forget, you're representing the village," he reminded, directing Naruto's attention to the foreign teams and Hokage. "We need to look united."
Naruto's shoulders slouched, the boy huffing, "Fuck that," he grumbled, looking over as another voice called out.
"Hey! Can I come watch the next match over here?"
Turning, the Leaf ninja watched as Kankuro walked over, easy smile on his face.
Looking over the arena to where the Sand team had been observing, Ino's gaze narrowed in on the red haired ninja, Gaara. His chakra hadn't seemed right from the moment she'd met him, but now it spiked maliciously. No wonder Kankuro had decided to distance himself. "Sure!" Ino replied with a bubbly expression.
"Talk about laying it on thick," Shikamaru sighed beside her.
Smiling back Kankuro turned from Ino to Naruto. "You're a real optimistic guy huh? I like that."
"You're creepy and that smile makes you look like a cat. I hate cats," Naruto replied flatly, causing Ino and Choji to laugh.
Kankuro's smile became a little tighter and forced, but held. "Yeah, well, I wanted to ask a question about that Neji guy," boy started, Naruto cutting him off as soon as Neji's name was mentioned.
"I'm gonna take him down!"
"Yeah, oddly enough, that wasn't what I was going to ask," Kankuro sighed. Leaning back to look at the other Konoha Genin, Kankuro pointed at the blonde. "Is he always like this?"
"Yep," nodded Choji.
"Mhmm," hummed Shikamaru.
"Always," agreed Ino.
"Regrettably," said Sakura with sagging shoulders.
Kakashi added, "We affectionately call him our Number One Knucklehead."
"Affectionately?" Kankuro repeated, eyebrows rising behind his Hitai-ate. There was no reply as Hayate's coughing drew the attention of the remaining spectators.
"Now that everyone is back in the viewing platform, we'll start the next match."
The board flickered into life once more. With two Sound ninja and the final ninja from the Sand still to fight Ino felt a flicker of worry, not for herself, but Choji and Sakura. The people fighting here meant business and she couldn't help the niggling feeling the two would be better off fighting each other.
Rock Lee vs Gaara
Cheering erupted from the two green blurs that were Gai and Lee, their enthusiasm drowning out Kankuro's words from being heard by the majority of the group.
"I hope that you've got more ninja with medical ninjutsu experience, because Gaara is going to a lot worse than Neji did to his opponent."
Ino didn't miss the words though, and even though she couldn't say she liked Lee, her heart leapt into her throat.
"Stop cheering and get down here already," Gaara growled, glaring up at Lee from a whirl of sand Gaara had used to move himself to the arena.
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" Lee cried, kicking and punching the air, clearly oblivious to Gaara's foul mood.
"Knock 'em dead, Lee!" Gai encouraged. Leaning in conspiritorially, he added, "Oh, and one more thing. I think that gourd is suspicious."
"I see, I shall make a note!" Lee declared, pulling out a notepad.
"Is… are they serious?" asked Kankuro.
Sakura nodded, "Sadly."
"I'm trying not to make this sound offensive, but I'm really beginning to question the sanity of your ninja and the economic effect that could have," Kankuro mumbled.
Ignoring the boy, Lee vaulted over the railing, grinning at Gaara. "I am Rock Lee, and I am very excited to battle you."
Gaara scoffed. "Try not to die too quickly."
A pop echoed through the arena. "Eh, what was that?" Naruto asked looking around.
"Gaara's popped his gourd," Shikamaru informed, pointing to Lee who held the cork in his hand.
"Ah.. so it is suspicious," Naruto hummed, cupping his chin.
Ino's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Naruto… Don't ever become a Jonin."
"Or Hokage," muttered Choji. "I can hear the mission requests now. 'Kakashi-sensei's mask is suspicious, I need you, Team 10, to investigate underneath the underneath'."
"Kaka-sensei's mask is suspicious," Naruto argued.
"I'd also refuse the mission," Itachi added under his breath.
Naruto snapped his attention to Itachi. "Eh? Why?"
"Because," Itachi began, closing the distance between him and Kakashi to within arm's reach. Eyes on Naruto, Itachi's hand shot out for Kakashi's mask only for the older Jonin to duck low out of the way. A swipe down and Kakashi stood up as he stepped backwards, avoiding Itachi's hand again. "It's way too much effort and Kakashi's really determined."
"Kakashi-sensei," Kakashi stressed, smacking Itachi's hand out of his face as the teen went for a third grab. "Stop that."
"All of you could do with not messing around here," Gai said, smiling down at Lee. "It's my prized pupil's time to shine."
The gourd stopper disintegrated into a small plume of sand that floated in the air, causing Lee to startle, before snapping like a whip towards Lee's face.
Jumping back to dodge, the sand caught Lee's cheek leaving a tiny cut in its wake. Gritting his teeth, Lee took a leap to the side before charging in at Gaara, attempting a roundhouse only for a thicker tendril of sand to spew out of Gaara's gourd and block the blow. From the other side, a second wave of sand rose up and smacked Lee in the stomach, sending him flying backward.
"He's not even using his hands, that's an impressive jutsu," Itachi praised.
"H-how is he controlling all that sand?" Sakura balked.
Shikamaru answered her, "Chakra probably, I'd guess it's possible the gourd itself is made of sand too, so he could use it if he really needed, but there can't be more than… maybe twenty-five or thirty litres of sand? So Gaara has limited ammo."
"That all depends on how much chakra it takes to move and his proficiency level," Itachi remarked, watching as Rock Lee was on the move again, darting around Gaara, kicking and punching the boy at different angles to the same effect. Gaara wasn't even turning to face blows that struck from behind.
"The sand protects Gaara," Kankuro stated. "It doesn't matter if Gaara wants it or not, the sand doesn't let people near him."
Itachi scoffed. "I doubt that. There's something more to it than sentient sand."
Kankuro shrugged, "Whatever, all the same, physical attacks are useless. That Lee guy would need a very strong jutsu to just get past the sand, nevermind actually hitting Gaara."
"That won't happen," Kakashi put in. Down below Lee was still trying basic taijutsu kata, albeit at a much faster speed than Ino or her teammates could pull off.
Kankuro smirked, "Then this match is over, can't beat what you can't hit. And Gaara hasn't been injured. Ever."
Ino's brows furrowed. "But, what, how? There must be some way of hurting him."
"Not that we know. Like I said, physical attacks certainly don't work," Kankuro shrugged, frowning as Lee successfully dodged a series of hands formed from sand attempting to grab his ankles. Jumping high to get out of Gaara's range, probably to think of a plan, Lee landed on the giant hand sign in front of the match selection board. "Clever idea, but Gaara can reach up there if he has to."
"Hmm, Gaara must be using all of the sand in the gourd right now, since no more has appeared," Itachi mused. "And the chakra in it is keeping the sand pliable and in an almost liquid state, it'll be the grains themselves that cut."
"Hey, what's your relationship to this Gaara guy?" Shikamaru asked Kankuro, Ino almost able to hear the gears in Shikamaru's head turning. "None of you have clan names, I'm thinking that's not a coincidence."
"We're siblings, Gaara's the youngest," Kankuro revealed, ignoring the remark about his lack of clan name.
"In that case, it's possible Gaara is using wind style too," Shikamaru reasoned. "Elemental affinity can travel in families if the Uchiha's affinity for fire style is anything to go off."
Kankuro smiled, "Maybe so, I can't say I've asked either way, our interests lie in different areas," the boy deflected, gesturing to his puppet.
"You don't train together?" Choji asked, surprised.
"Sometimes."
"I wonder what Lee's speciality is?" Ino hummed, looking between the two still fighters. "Neji had the Byakugan, and I guess Tenten had her weapons…"
"Maybe Lee can summon fighting turtles like Gai-sensei?" suggested Sakura.
"What, like… little turtles?" asked Choji.
"No, like a big one," Sakura returned with a frown. "It can stomp on the sand or something."
"Unlikely," Gai cut in. "You see, Lee has no talent when it comes to genjutsu or ninjutsu, all he has it taijutsu. In fact, all of my team rely on their brutal taijutsu offense to complete missions!"
"Why does he sound proud of that?" Ino sneered.
"Because he is. It's quite a feat to graduate the academy with only one of the fundamentals. Lee is one of a rare breed, and the same as his Sensei," Itachi explained.
"'The same as his Sensei'… are you saying Gai-sensei can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu either?" Ino asked, utterly perplexed.
"That's right!" Gai said with a winning grin. "I can't perform more than a handful of jutsu but I can still compete and revel in that Kakashi here is my eternal rival!" Said 'eternal rival' didn't look nearly as enthralled as Gai. "Now, Lee!" Gai called, drawing the attention of both fighters. "Take them off!"
"No, please, whatever it is, keep it on," Ino rattled off, looking haunted. Lee wasn't wearing much and she had no desire to see what was under his jumpsuit.
"B-but Gai-sensei, you said I should only do so when protecting many precious people!" Lee argued.
"And now I'm saying just this once, there's an exception to that rule," Gai pressed. "To get past that sand, you need speed. Take. Them. Off!"
Lee looked gleeful. Ino felt about to hurl. Choji took a step away from Gai who was practically glowing with some unholy Energy of Youth.
Thankfully the object in question turned out to be under Lee's legwarmers. "Training weights?" Kankuro laughed. "What the hell do you think those will do?"
"I mean, it's true he'll be a little faster without-eep," Shikamaru cut himself off with an unintended squeak, his eyes bugging out at the clouds of dust Lee's weights had caused and the small craters they now sat in.
"Ah, that is so much better!" Lee said to himself, stretching his legs one at a time.
Choji rounded on Itachi. "Sensei, never ever make us wear weights like that."
"Don't worry, I won't," Itachi mumbled, perturbed. His eyebrow twitched, a look of absolute stupefaction haunting his face. "How much did those things weigh?" he breathed.
"No no no no no! You have to swear!" Choji insisted, pulling on Itachi's sleeve. "I don't want to be tortured!"
"Lee!" Gai called, raising his finger to the sky like an idol. "GO!"
The difference was incomprehensible. Lee was there one instant and gone the next reappearing behind Gaara, bits of cracked roof tile dropping from the ceiling to plot out Lee's route. Before, Lee's attacks couldn't get within two feet of Gaara, now each punch and kick was less than a hand span from Gaara's body. Lee shot around Gaara like a bullet, and while Ino couldn't follow his movements she could see the protective bursts of Gaara's sand getting nearer and nearer to Gaara's body, until finally Lee flipped over Gaara following a kick, swinging his other leg down right on Gaara's head.
Using his momentum to skid across the floor, Lee looked up at Gaara, smirking. A dark gash from Lee's sandal marred Gaara's cheek.
"Impossible!" Kankuro barked.
"What?!" Choji's eyes were the size of saucers. Grabbing Itachi with both hands he started rattling the Sensei. "I've changed my mind. Hit me up with the weights. I wanna go fast!"
"Hehe, well you can join my special regime later," Gai purred. "Because Lee can't use genjutsu or ninjutsu, he put all his focus into taijutsu. Strength training, endurance, weights, he put everything into getting his physical traits to superhuman levels. Other ninja can temporarily get to his level though careful chakra control, they can't stand up to Lee continually though. Lee won't lose here, I'm sure of it." Raising his voice to Lee, Gai cried. "Show him the Power of Youth, Lee!"
"Right, Gai-sensei!"
"H-how is he still not at full speed?" Ino balked. Lee had somehow gained speed and it was obvious Gaara was struggling to keep track of the Konoha ninja too, the redhead looking completely the wrong way, sand tendrils flared but too slow to stop Lee.
"Take this!" Lee roared, punching Gaara with all his might. Gaara was sent flying, his sand travelling with him and catching his fall. As Gaara stood, the atmosphere seemed to darken, the boy's sand arching around him and writhing demonically.
"This is bad. This is very very bad," Kankuro muttered beside the group of Konoha ninja, his hand gripping the railing tight.
"Haha, Gaara's shaking like a leaf. Lee's kicking his butt, I bet his gonna cry," laughed Naruto.
Instead, it was Gaara who was laughing. The sound was ugly, grating on the ears like gravel on skin. Under the cover of his sand, Gaara's bloodlust flared and a layer of sand that had been covering his skin began to loosen and join the main body of the sand, leaving Gaara once again injury free.
"W-what is that?" Ino asked Kankuro.
"Gaara's second level of defence, his Ultimate Defence. It uses more chakra than the basic sand movements, but it's basically an armoured layer of skin." Kankuro swallowed. "Hey, your guy is looking tired, maybe you should pull him out before Gaara really does kill him."
"That sand looks really creepy right now," Shikamaru agreed, watching the sand wrap around Gaara, its texture changing to match Gaara's form. Beside him, Choji quaked, clinging onto Itachi who looked the picture of calm, though there was something lurking in his dark eyes that suggested he wasn't completely at ease.
"All out energy?" Gaara mocked Lee. "At least entertain me before I kill you."
"Not at all, I just needed a moment to think," Lee replied easily, reaching for the bandages covering his arms and unravelling them a little so he had long tails trailing from both arms. Keeping out of Gaara's immediate range, Lee bounded around Gaara in circles, looking for an opening.
"One of the first pillars of defence is to become an immoveable object," Itachi noted. "If that sand focuses on defence, it's possible it's making Gaara heavier. If he's planning on using the lotus technique, Lee would be better off trying to separate Lee from that gourd first."
"To move the sand away?" Gai guessed. "Not strictly necessary, Lee has proven he's faster than the sand, and really, how much heavier than normal can a guy covered in sand be? Lee's able to use the lotus technique on men more than twice his size."
The answer was a significant amount. When Lee finally acted, performing the same upward kick Sasuke had in the first match, it took multiple strikes to keep Gaara airborne, the boy's sand trailing after he and Lee like grasping tentacles.
"Is he trying to break the sand armour off?" Kankuro wondered.
Kakashi shook his head. "This technique requires a set amount of distance from the ground to create the correct impact."
Wrapping Gaara in his bandages before the sand reached them, Lee gripped the redhead and sent them into a spin towards the ground, their combined weight adding to the speed of their descent. "Primary Lotus!"
"Yeah! Get'em, Lee!" Sakura cheered, while others marvelled at the move's destruction. Gaara lay in a heap amongst the cracked floor tiles unmoving, his sand falling to the floor and stilling.
"Did he win?" Choji murmured.
Ino shook her head, "That's impossible. There's no way the sand didn't protect Gaara there." His killing intent hadn't disappeared at all, the bone-chilling feeling still dancing over Ino's spine. Turning her gaze from Gaara to Lee, she cursed. "Lee looks exhausted." The boy had landed safely from the lotus, but was shaking and panted heavily, not rising from his crouch.
The Gaara lying among the debris cracked, sand falling from his body as it lost colour, then density, the whole head caving in to reveal nothing but sand.
Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Sand Clone."
"But when? And where's the real one?" asked Gai.
"You and Lee both closed your eyes at the apex of the kicks," Kakashi explained. "He switched out then."
"The sand!" Shikamaru cried, "Lee! Behind you!"
Gaara's awful laughter echoed around the room again as Lee turned to face the other boy, looking like something out of a nightmare. Sand exploded from behind Gaara and headed towards Lee, smacking him into the arena wall and going in for a second attack, the sand shaped like spikes. Dazed, Lee could barely raise his hands to block in time.
"Gaara's toying with him," Kankuro realised.
Ino cringed seeing Gaara lick his lips predatorily. "Yeah, and while Lee made it out of that one, I don't think he has any stamina left to keep fighting."
"But Lee was okay before the lotus," argued Choji.
"These big moves, they're like if we use our jutsu," Shikamaru explained. "He can run circles around us sure, but he's only human. High impact techniques like that with little to no chakra to compensate means he's probably using up a tonne of energy pulling them off."
"I… am not done yet," Lee vowed, wobbling a little as he pushed to his feet. He took another hit from the sand, but was able to dodge the worst of it. Mouth set in a determined line, Lee soldiered through the blows he couldn't dodge and pushed forward, crying out loudly as he slipped behind Gaara again, "Take this!"
Gaara brushed him off with a burst of sand. "Haven't you got anything else? You one-trick pony."
"There is one thing you should know about Konoha's lotus. It always blooms twice," Lee said, getting to his feet again and taking up his stance.
"I don't give a shit about your flowers."
"He should. Lee's about to become a monster," Itachi noted the statement about lotus's blooming making more sense to ihm than it did Ino.
"Luckily for Gaara, he already is one," muttered Kankuro acidly.
"Gai… you didn't," Kakashi implored. "That kid… he's going to die. Did you teach him about the Eight Gates?"
"I did, and he's going to open them. I fully respect that decision," Gai told Kakashi.
"Are you insane?! After what happened to Dai?" Kakashi balked.
Gai's eyes narrowed and for the first time, Gai sounded genuinely angry. "You don't know a damn thing about him or Lee, so shut your mouth, Kakashi."
"What's the Dai Eight Gate?" asked Naruto innocently.
"Dai is a person, who it isn't my place to talk about," Itachi said softly. "As for the Eight Gates, they're… Doors in the chakra network for lack of better wording. Each gate makes chakra flow more strongly throughout the body. Even for someone not talented in genjutsu or ninjutsu, this is very helpful, but it comes at a cost. Those gates aren't meant to be opened. They're regulators to protect the body against chakra-based damage, like over-using food pills for example."
"What kind of damage can they do?"
"Well, let me put it this way, the last gate's name is the Death Gate for a reason."
"E-eh? But then why would you do it all?!" Naruto flapped.
"Because with each open get your power grows exponentially," Gai said. "The first gate, the Initial Gate in the brain releases the brain's limiter on your muscles, allowing you to hit harder, the second gate, the Heal Gate forcibly raises stamina. Other gates have similar abilities allowing for more intense taijutsu techniques linked to them."
"So… how many can Lee open?"
"Five." Gai smiled confidently. "Here he goes."
Looking down at Lee, the boy's skin began to darken, the blood pumping around his body giving his skin a red tone as chakra visibly began to roll off of Lee. Veins popped across his skin with the strain his body was enduring, his pupils fading, or perhaps simply moving so fast Ino couldn't see them.
"He's opened up the Life Gate and Pain Gate," Kakashi observed eyes wide as he watched the young ninja.
"He's going to be much faster and stronger now," Itachi noted.
Kankuro bit his lip. "Gaara…"
Lee shot forward to Gaara cracking the tiles under his feet, and causing huge chunks of debris to fly towards the viewing platform from the pressure from each of Lee's steps. Hayate darted back to avoid the rubble, landing on the stone hands which had survived most of the damage.
Even in his Ultimate Defence, or perhaps because of it, Gaara couldn't block Lee's kick and was sent high into the air. Lee's movement was completely beyond Ino's ability to track now, all she was able to see were the explosions of force destroying more of the arena and bouncing Gaara around like a ping pong ball.
"Lee… he's insane," Ino mumbled in awe, staring up at Gaara whose defensive sand was cracking, the boy's regular sand chasing after him desperately.
"Is he gonna kill Gaara?" Choji wondered looking to Itachi. "Sensei…" Itachi bit his lip, dark eyes focused on the sky.
"Can you follow them without your Sharingan?" Shikamaru asked, his entire body tensed.
"Not completely, but I can see one thing plain as day. Lee's slowing down."
"So then… it'll be over soon?" Kankuro sounded hopeful. "I don't think Gaara can take any more…"
"It's a question of who can endure more. This move is destructive and designed to be a finisher," Gai said his tone resolute. "He's opening the fifth gate."
Ino spoke up hesitantly, "What… what happens if Lee doesn't finish Gaara?"
"Gaara will definitely kill him," Kankuro replied darkly.
"Raaaah!" She still couldn't see it, but Ino could hear Lee's cry from above as his attacks increased and he landed a blow that sent Gaara towards the ground, only for both parties to freeze in place for a second, Lee's bandage connecting his arm to Gaara's torso.
"H-how does Gaara still have sand on!?" Ino shouted.
Shikamaru pointed to Lee. "A better question is what's that sand behind Lee going to do?"
"Nothing most likely, it can't keep up," Itachi said tightly. "Lee's bleeding."
Ino watched as with another roar Lee yanked Gaara towards him, lining up Gaara's bound middle with Lee's foot and palm. "That's got to have hurt." If not that, then the ricochet to the ground had to have broken something. Turning to Itachi intending to ask where Lee was bleeding from, she paused, watching Itachi's eyes gain the barest hints of red before dulling back to their usual charcoal. Was he actively repressing the Sharingan? Why?
The two fighters hit the ground. Lee skidded away from Gaara with a cry of pain that lanced through Ino's ears, blood coating one knuckle and the edge of one leg warmer. The boy twitched but made no move to stand while Gaara was completely obscured by a cloud of dust.
"You were right about the gourd being made of sand," Itachi told Shikamaru, eyes firmly on the slowly clearing dust. "That must have been his last defence, and if Gaara has any strength left, this match is his. Lee will be completely defenceless."
"No, no way, Gaara has to be completely out of it too," Naruto insisted.
"You're wrong, look." Kankuro pointed into the cloud where enough of Gaara could be seen that there could be no doubt. While there was no gourd, Gaara had been protected by sand. Sand he was now manipulating with a shaking hand towards Lee. The redhead's chakra had gone from a beast on the hunt to a desperate thing wanting to eliminate a threat.
Grunting in pain, Lee struggled to all fours and tried to drag himself out of range, but it was too late. Sand enveloped his left arm and leg, latching on tight. Wobbling onto his right leg, Lee tried to pull himself free to no avail.
But the sand didn't climb any further. Was Gaara was at his chakra limit? "Sand Coffin," the boy ground out, closing his fist tightly, the sand copying the motion and crushing Lee's limbs.
Lee let out a blood curdling scream, losing his footing and collapsing head first into the ground. The sand didn't let up. Seemingly spurred on by this strike a hand of sand formed and snaked towards Lee's head.
Closing her eyes, Ino's hands sought out Shikamaru and Itachi to ground her. Both hands were clammy but while Shikamaru's hand squeezed hers gently, Itachi's remained still but for soft trembling.
"Ino, he's okay," Shikamaru whispered softly. "Gai-sensei's there."
Worrying her lip, Ino opened her eyes to see Gai standing protectively in front of Lee, Gaara's sand attack dismissed with a flick of his arm. His chakra was sure and warm, reminding Ino of her father.
"Wh-why? Why did you protect him?" Gaara asked voice thick with confusion.
Gai lowered his arm. "Lee is my precious student. It's a Jonin Sensei's responsibility to keep our students safe."
"Why is he asking that? Has no one cared for Gaara?" Naruto asked softly.
Kankuro looked away. "Gaara has always been strong, he's never needed anyone to save him, and only surrounds himself with people who also don't need saving."
"That isn't what I asked," Naruto growled, his voice low. Ignoring him, Kankuro started to walk back towards the stairs. Gaara too was somehow on his feet and walking away, sand trailing sluggishly behind and pulling itself into gourd form.
"Winner, Gaara!" Hayate declared.
There was more commotion down in the arena, but Ino looked away from it as she felt Itachi pull his hand away from hers. Turning to the Sensei, she saw him trying to hide his face with his hair, body deathly still.
"Itachi-sensei?" she asked softly, tilting her head to look under Itachi's hair. His Sharingan was active and swirling, and even when he met her gaze he remained silent. His Sharingan faded and Itachi raised his head to look past her to the arena and match board.
Lee was taken by medical ninja and after checking the integrity of the floor, which was damaged but still load baring, Hayate called for the next match to be selected.
Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino
Ino stared at the screen. No. No that couldn't be right. That wasn't who she wanted to fight.
"Ino, go," Choji encouraged softly.
She turned to him, "But Cho-!" At seeing Choji's sad smile, Ino cut herself off.
"Sakura, she's your friend right?" he said. "I get it, you don't want to hurt your friend, but after seeing her fight in the forest and knowing the next stuff is one-on-one… I think this is best. You can let her down gently."
Ino swallowed, her gaze drifting unwillingly drifting over to Gaara. The boy wasn't even scratched after all that Lee did.
"Yamanaka Ino, are you participating or do you quit?" Hayate asked. Looking at the invigilator, Sakura was already down in the arena waiting.
"I'm coming!" Ino called, vaulting the rail and landing on the floor in a crouch. Her heart hammered in her chest and Ino sucked on her lip not sure what to even say to Sakura, who still had scabs on her arms from where the kunai had stabbed her in the forest.
Reaching behind her, Sakura untied her hitai-ate and pulled it from her hair before her. "Get it together, Ino. This is a fight among Shinobi and I won't hold back," she said firmly, shifting the headband to sit on her forehead, tying it securely.
She might be sure of herself, and one of the best civilian Shinobi in their class, but she had no ninjutsu in her repertoire that wasn't taught at the academy. Sakura was brave, probably braver than Ino, but she was stupid.
"Also, I'm not letting you get near Sasuke," Sakura added matter-of-factly.
Startled that Sakura would bring that up now of all times, Ino balked, "What?!"
"You're not even his type, Pig. And I'm not the weak, needy girl you used to help when we were kids. I've surpassed you."
"W-who do you think you're talking to, Forehead!?" Ino shouted, "Don't confuse bravery with stupidity. And how dare you pull that attitude with me!" The reason Sakura tied her hair back with her headband instead of wearing it properly on her forehead up until now was because Ino had shown her how to do it with a ribbon when they were just starting the academy.
Sakura had often been bullied for her massive forehead, and assuming the girl was just shy because she didn't come from a ninja clan, but was at the ninja academy, Ino had gone over to talk to her. Sakura's pink hair looked so much like the flowers of her namesake that Ino had wondered if it was natural or if she was blonde like Ino and her parents coloured it.
Little Sakura had recoiled as though Ino was going to hit her the first time she approached. Gently she'd pushed Sakura's hair back from her eyes. "This is really soft, and a pretty colour. I'm Ino, what's your name?"
"S-Sakura."
"Named after your hair huh? What're you crying about?" Ino had asked, sitting next to Sakura.
Pulling back from Ino, Sakura had clamped her hands over her fringe and pressed it to her head before ducking it into her knees.
"Ah. Big forehead. You know, that's meant to mean you've got a big brain in there," Ino had told Sakura gently, poking Sakura's head. "My name means boar, so some of the girls try insulting me with it, but there's nothing I can do about it, it's my name and it's a name that travels down in my family, so there's no way of changing it. So I don't try to be super girly to detract from it, like you shouldn't hide your forehead. By paying it attention and trying to hide it, they know it's sore spot for you and that talking about it will upset you."
"You… don't like your name?" Sakura had squeaked.
Ino had chuckled, "Haha, nope. It sucks. Inosuke, Inoichi, Inomasa, Inohara. So many Inos and my parents didn't even write it with a different character or try to add to it to make it less… boarish. I kinda hate it," she'd finished, slumping head on her knees. Brightening, Ino had pulled out a ribbon. "Oh, but hey, let's fix your hair and show off how comfortable you are with your forehead. You can come meet my friends and we can pair up in class if you're still nervous."
"Wh-what?!" Sakura had ducked her head, but Ino had persisted, styling Sakura's hair and dragging her off to meet her friends. At the end of the day, as they were leaving the academy and heading home, Sakura had called out. "I-Ino! Why… did you give me that ribbon?"
Stopping and turning to Sakura, Ino had smiled softly. "My family owns a flower shop, and so I kinda see people like flowers. To me, you're a bud. I… I thought it would be a shame to see you die on the vine, especially when everyone loves watching the cherry blossoms bloom."
Back then, times had been easier, safer. But now this exam was asking them to be willing to sacrifice life to be a ninja. And once again, Sakura was barely blossoming.
Sakura was so sure their rivalry over Sasuke would keep them competing, but Ino had honestly forgotten all about Sasuke since graduating until seeing him at the exams. Sasuke was on Sakura's team, a thing the girl had boasted about almost every time they had crossed paths. But Ino had been training with her Sensei three days a week, working in the flower shop and then training with her father and going on missions on top of all that. There hadn't really been time for boys. And the time she'd spent not being obsessed with Sasuke had gone into actually being nice to the guys on her team and understanding them. Choji was an even bigger softy than Sakura, insecure about his looks and hated fighting, hiding behind bad habits and Shikamaru. Shikamaru for all his brains had very little incentive to use them, unless his friends would get hurt if he didn't outsmart someone. She was even starting to understand Itachi-sensei; he liked quiet and being alone because he struggled to fall out of active ninja mode and was slow to trust. But was a sucker for sweets and a total history nerd.
"Ino, do you remember what I said when I gave your ribbon back?" Sakura asked, taking up a fighting stance.
Ino nodded, "You said you wouldn't wear it properly until you felt worthy of standing in front of me as a Shinobi of Konoha." And Ino had agreed to do the same.
Reaching for her own hitai-ate, Ino removed it from her waist and tied it around her forehead. "You know that now we've done this, there's no going easy on each other right?" she asked, crouching and reading herself for attack.
Sakura sprang forward, making two clones.
"This isn't the academy!" Ino shot, freezing in place instead of dodging or pulling a weapon. Sakura hadn't even made it hard to spot the real her by switching with a clone, she'd stayed in the middle. It was so stupefying that Ino completely neglected to move, receiving a punch to the face for her falter.
"I know, Pig! And you just said we weren't going easy on each other, I know you can do better than this, Ino!" Sakura accused, glaring at Ino who was sprawled out on the floor.
Picking herself up, Ino wiped a small dribble of blood from her mouth, her face set in determination.
"WOOOO! Look at Sakura go!" cheered Naruto from the viewing platform.
"This might be a good match up, Sakura has the best chakra control in the academy, probably among all of you rookies, and her knowledge of the fundamentals is unshakeable," noted Kakashi.
"Eh, better than me?!" squawked Naruto.
Kakashi gave him a questioning look, "Uh, yeah. Don't you remember how Sakura could climb the tree first time? She has surpassed both you and Sasuke in the art of sending chakra around her body precisely to wherever she desires it."
Ignoring the commentary on how amazing Sakura apparently was, Ino charged forward, lining up a punch, which Sakura met with one of her own, both girls blocking the blows aimed at them with their free hand. They struggled in place a moment before jumping apart and flinging a single shuriken at each other, the metal meeting in the middle and ricocheting away.
They kept at it, exchanging blows and dodging almost like a mirror match. Sakura made to kick, Ino copied. Ino threw a punch, Sakura was ready to meet her with the same one. While it was a testament to their endurance that they both managed to keep such ferocity going for ten minutes, it didn't look like they were about to finish either.
"They… are gonna just keep going forever?" Choji asked, staring at Ino in worry.
Itachi's lips dipped in as close to a frown as he got in public.
"This isn't right. Sakura's better than I thought, but Ino shouldn't be struggling," Shikamaru commented.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto accused. "Sakura's awesome, she's gonna kick Ino's butt! WOAH!" Naruto span back around as the now familiar sound of skin slapping into skin rang around the arena. Ino and Sakura had once again sent each other flying with a punch to the jaw, each kunoichi skidding across the ground and slowly pulling themselves to a sitting position, Hayate looking awkwardly between them.
"You can't be my equal! It's unthinkable!" Ino cried, hating herself for not giving this fight her all like Sakura clearly was. She was scuffed up and breathing hard with exertion, but by no means fully tired out. Itachi's training sessions were longer than this and more intensive. Sakura was good though, and this fight was one of the bigger workouts she'd had since returning from Bakugakure.
"Hmph, of course not," goaded Sakura. "The magnitude of your long, flowing hair and superficial appearances is peerless."
"How dare you make fun of me! That's too far!"
"INO! Get a grip!" Itachi barked smacking his hand on the rail. The two girls froze in place and turned to Itachi.
"S-Sensei never shouts…" Ino mumbled, looking up into Itachi's dark eyes. He also very rarely scolded his students, certainly not as harshly as now.
"What the hell are you doing?" Itachi demanded of her. "You and I both know you're better than this." Sighing, he said softer, "I know you think you're doing her a kindness by making Sakura think this fight is even and that she's earned this. But she hasn't. Sakura deserves your best, because if she wins here, she has to fight the people who have already won. Do you think they'll use kid gloves and let Sakura down gently, or let her win? They won't."
Ino bit her lip. Gaara. She could still hear Lee's screaming in her head. Gaara would kill Sakura. Naruto might at least be kind to her, but Neji would probably kill her too, even Shikamaru would just knock her out without preamble. Itachi was right, Sakura did deserve better.
"H-hai," she mumbled, turning slowly to Sakura with hunched shoulders.
Behind her, she could hear Choji and Shikamaru berating Itachi. "What was that? You were meant to encourage her, not knock the fight out of her!" Choji said. "What a drag. You could have tried that ten minutes ago, it would have saved a lot of time," Shikamaru griped.
"What's the matter, Pig?" Sakura taunted, "Need your Sensei to stop the match and kiss your boo-boos?"
Ino didn't reply her mouth set in a hard line as she removed a handful of shuriken and two kunai from her weapon pouches. Throwing the shuriken in sequence, Ino waited for Sakura to throw her own before flicking her kunai out, redirecting the deflected shuriken back at Sakura and charging forward as Sakura hurriedly dealt with the second projectile attack. She threw a punch and fell to the side away from Sakura's replying fist, cartwheeling around Sakura and taking the chance to kick the overbalanced girl in the face along the way.
"Argh!" Letting Sakura fall to the ground, Ino straightened and waited for Sakura to recover.
"Yield Sakura. This doesn't have to go on." While Ino's tone was flat, there was sadness and an edge of begging to the look in Ino's blue eyes.
"You… you were still going easy on me," Sakura frowned pushing up to her feet.
"Nice combo, Ino didn't take a hit that time," Kakashi noted.
"So… she really was holding back?" asked Naruto.
"CHAAAAA!" Sakura roared, charging chakra to her feet and leaping towards Ino, who took the hit, spinning in the air before catching herself. While she'd been looking away, Sakura had made more clones and was charging in again. "Take. Me. Seriously!" Sakura growled, throwing blow after blow at Ino, the blonde completely on defensive, blocking and dodging, constantly moving back to try find an opening in Sakura's attacks.
Unable to stop a kick that took Ino off guard, she cried out in pain as Sakura's leg connected with her previous hip injury from the forest, pain racking her body and freezing her in place as Sakura followed up with a punch to the face that left her head ringing.
Curled up on the floor, she could tell Sakura was close from her heavy panting, not that she could do much about it. Gritting her teeth, she looked around and found Sakura, kicking out hard to send the girl back a bit.
Ino got to her feet and wobbled, nearly slipping to the floor again. Seeing Hayate looking between her and Sakura from her peripherals, Ino pulled her hands together to start weaving signs. "It's not over yet."
Scrambling to her feet, Sakura crouched, ready to dodge an attack, only, one wasn't coming. For the moment anyway.
"Hey, Kaka-sensei, what jutsu is that?" asked Naruto innocently.
"T-that's genjutsu!" Kurenai said, startled, staring down at the girls.
Sakura smacked her hands into the ram seal. "Genjutsu huh? Kai!"
"Yeah, about that, Sakura, it's not for you," Ino mumbled, her head no longer throbbing, her side no longer screaming, even the injuries Sakura had dealt over the fight didn't bother her. Charging forward before Sakura put two and two together, Ino hit her hard, sending Sakura flying. She raced after the girl with a burst of chakra, landing on the wall Sakura was heading towards hard enough to crack the stone and kicked Sakura in the stomach.
"She's done too much," muttered Itachi, his eyes widening.
"How does she know that jutsu?" Kurenai demanded of Itachi, "That's high level genjutsu someone as inexperienced as her shouldn't be using!"
"I don't get it, what's she done wrong?" Naruto asked.
"That… That's the painkilling genjutsu you used on me on our mission," Choji realised, watching Ino.
Itachi nodded. "Yes, but she's laid it on thick, her body can't tell how much pressure to apply when moving, so she's just as likely to break her own bones as Sakura's."
"Well, hopefully Hayate-sensei calls it now, I don't think Sakura's getting up," Shikamaru said, watching Ino stand tall beside a downed Sakura, the pinkette's head bleeding sluggishly.
"S-SAKURA!" Naruto cried.
Hayate crouched beside Sakura and checked her pulse. "Alive, but definitely knocked out. Um, Yamanaka Ino is the winner."
Kakashi jumped down to retrieve Sakura, double checking to see how bad her injuries were. "A couple of broken bones and a bad head bump. Not as bad as I was expecting to be honest."
"I didn't want to hurt her," Ino mumbled, looking at the ground. A pair of sandals came into view and she knew without looking it was Itachi. "Sensei…"
"Sometimes you have to hurt your friends to protect them," he told her softly. "Though I disagree with your method."
"How far would you go to stop your friend from doing something dangerous?" she asked eyes on Sakura.
"I wouldn't be able to stop him, my friend is stronger than me," Itachi replied simply. "I'd get neck deep in the same kind of trouble. But if he's having a bad day and I had the advantage; I'd break both of his legs and drag him home." Ino startled and looked up at him, Itachi's hand shooting out to catch her head. "You shouldn't move quickly with how heavy you applied that genjutsu. I'm going to release it now, try to stay awake; you've hurt your head a lot in the last fifteen minutes." Ino opened her mouth to reply but all that came out was a long cry of pain as Itachi broke the genjutsu. Losing her footing, Ino pitched forward into Itachi.
"Looks like a broken ankle, on top of the other things," Kakashi noted as he looked at Ino, Sakura limp in his arms.
"Left… leg," Ino informed, unable to prevent Itachi from putting his arm under her knees and scooping her into his arms too. Both Jonin headed to the stairs with their charges. "I'm sorry, Itachi-sensei," Ino mumbled softly.
"It's fine, so long as you promise not to be so reckless again anytime soon," Itachi replied. "I never taught you that jutsu for a reason. How did you learn it?"
"I saw you weaving the signs when we were in the hotel room," Ino replied as they passed Kurenai.
"And you remembered them?" Itachi said, his voice rising the barest amount.
"Yeah. I've always been good at memorising."
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Itachi noted, "You are incredibly knowledgeable about flowers after all. It would make sense you can remember many other things."
"Dad stressed it since sometimes with Mind Transfer you have to return to your body before being able to hand information on. It helped in exams," Ino shrugged, gritting her teeth as Itachi shifted to let her stand, Shikamaru appearing at her left and pulling her arm around his shoulders to ease the weight off of her hurt leg.
"I think you broke some fingers there, Ino," he said, looking at the swollen digits.
"You can go down to the medical bay after the last match," Itachi promised, looking to the screen as the next pair was selected.
"Well, it's not like we don't know who's left," Choji commented.
Shikamaru nodded, "Two Sound ninja, Shino and Choji."
"Either way, it sounds like I'll get a rematch from the forest," said Choji.
"Do you think you can take them this time?" Ino asked, looking to the screen too.
Abumi Zaku vs Aburame Shino
Choji grimaced. "Dosu'll be a pain. I probably can't win either, I'd have preferred the guy with the broken arms."
"In that case, let's strategize rather than watching," Shikamaru suggested. "Sensei, you can keep an eye on this match for us right?"
"Why would I do that?" Itachi asked.
"There's a reason you Sensei are allowed here when you weren't present for other portions of the exams. We're allowed to be coached from this point on, and these fights are spectateable because we're meant to be watching and assessing our opponents for when we fight them in the third exam," Shikamaru theorized. "Which means information on the winner of this battle will be needed, and that's also why you didn't take Ino to the medical bay immediately. But if we want to be the only team going forward, then we have to sacrifice intel to help Choji come up with a plan of winning."
"All very good points," Itachi nodded. "Fine, I'll do your dirty work on one condition."
"Condition?"
"Yes. In the preparation for the third exam, you'll work hard with no complaints, even if I have you study under someone else. That condition goes for all three of you," Itachi stated. Down in the arena, Shino and Zaku were already preparing to fight.
"Fine, no complaints," Shikamaru nodded.
"You didn't have to do that, Shikamaru," Choji said frowning, Itachi turning away from them to spectate. "I probably won't make it, so you and Ino should be watching."
"No way," argued Shikamaru shaking his head. "These Sound guys are out for blood. They would have killed us in the forest to get to Sasuke and I don't think he'll knock you out just because the Sensei are here. Killing is allowed, and his augmentations could leave you stone deaf."
"I don't know about Dosu's range, but I think he can increase the sound frequency of his attacks, and they would have been at their worst in the forest," Ino said. "I can't see him being allowed to make the spectators deaf too."
Shikamaru cupped his chin. "But either way, Choji needs to find some way of protecting his ears…"
"The match is over," Itachi intoned, glancing over his shoulder.
"What? But it's only been a couple of minutes at most!" Shikamaru argued.
It really was over though, with Shikamaru holding her up, Ino could see dark patches on the floor, which upon closer inspection were huge swarms of bugs, and Zaku looked to be in a bad way. He was in a pile on the floor, one arm at an unnatural angle and the other was completely detached at the elbow some several feet from Zaku's collapsed form.
"W-what the hell happened?" Ino questioned.
"Shino's bugs got into Zaku's internal palm mechanism, it seems the tube leads far up his arm," Itachi explained, "when he tried to use his technique, it blew his arms off instead. Even then, the types of bug Shino summoned eat chakra, Zaku wouldn't have lasted long anyway."
"But, we didn't even come up with a plan," argued Shikamaru.
Itachi shrugged. "I can't help you there, there's nothing to be done, Hayate has already called the result." On the arena floor, two medics were putting Zaku on a stretcher.
"Damn it!" Shikamaru growled. Behind him, Choji smiled.
"It'll be okay, you guys gave me an idea," he said quietly, stepping around his teammates and heading to the stairs.
Shikamaru put out a hand to his friend's retreating back. "Ch-Choji…"
"It'll be alright, let him go," said Itachi gently. "If things get heated, I'll step in before any lasting harm is done."
Standing before Dosu with a wide, easy grin on his face, Choji waited for the call to start before leaping back, flipping in the air and activating his Expansion Jutsu. "Human Boulder!" The gained distance allowed Choji to build up momentum as he charged at Dosu.
"Ha, it won't be that easy!" Dosu yelled, pulling his sleeve up and thrusting the device on his wrist toward Choji, a high pitched noise ringing through the arena. It didn't stop Choji though or even send him off course. Hurriedly, Dosu dived to the side. "Maybe because your head didn't get bigger you have a somewhat dimmed sense of hearing in that jutsu? I guess I'll just have to turn up the decibels and find out!" As Choji turned in his expanded state, Dosu raced forward, sound ringing out from his arm and blasting at Choji. Jumping back, Dosu littered the floor with shuriken.
Twisting, Choji deactivated his jutsu, pivoting. "Fuck," he swore, hand on his right ear. Reaching into his weapon pouch, Choji tried throwing kunai at Dosu to keep him busy while he charged chakra to his feet and leapt forward weaving the signs for Expansion again.
"Not this time, I've got you!" roared Dosu, the sound from his arm powerful enough to have Ino wincing and grabbing her head. Around her, Sensei and Genin alike were covering their ears.
"Choji!" cried Ino, looking for the boy who was no longer in front of Dosu.
"There!" Shikamaru pointed to the wall where Choji was dazed, the wall smashed behind him, likely from collided with his Expansion jutsu from the large circular shape of the damage. He also showed no signs of getting up, completely limp and slumped against the stone. "Choji! Snap out of it!"
"I'm not sure he's fit to continue," Itachi said from next to them. His voice was like a distant whisper, leading Ino to worry her lip, hoping there was no lasting damage to her own ears.
Hayate clearly thought the same though and jumped between Choji and Dosu. "Um, I'm calling it here," he got out before needing to cough. "Akimichi Choji cannot continue the fight, the winner is Kinuta Dosu."
"Ino, hold onto the rail, I'm gonna check on Choji," Shikamaru said, waiting until Ino had supported herself before running to the stairs, meeting Itachi who hadn't reached Choji yet, distracted by something on the floor.
Covering his mouth with the back of his hand, Itachi started to chuckle, showing Shikamaru what he'd found as the boy made a beeline towards him.
"What is it?" Ino called.
Shikamaru looked up with a wide disbelieving smile. "Cheese."
"What?"
"EH? What was he doing? Trying to snack mid-fight?" Naruto demanded.
Hayate spoke up from beside Choji, something in his palm. "Um, there's cheese here too. It looks like he had it in his ears."
"Ew," Temari cringed, grimacing.
"Pretty clever," Itachi praised, dropping the small chunk of dairy and closing the space between himself and Choji, shaking the boy gently. When Choji didn't wake up, Shikamaru helped shift the boy onto Itachi's back, the two heading for the stairs, only pausing as medical ninja met them at the stairs. Itachi passed Choji on to the medical ninja and Ino had to wait until the two had returned before she could ask what happened.
"They're taking Choji to rest and check his ears over," Itachi explained.
"He's probably fine," Shikamaru added.
"Alright. Could the winners of each match please come down? The preliminaries are now complete!" called Hayate, taking the moments after to cough while the Genin assembled, the Hokage, Anko and Ibiki joining them.
The winners lined up in a row facing the stone hands as they had at the beginning of the preliminaries, the three invigilators forming another line that separated the Genin from Hiruzen who stood further back.
"Well done to all of you how passed, we'll now explain the details of the third exam more thoroughly," Hayate began, only to be cut off by Naruto.
"What about Sasuke? He's still not here."
"Sasuke will be informed of the details once he regains consciousness," Hiruzen said. "We want everyone fighting at their best and to test your abilities to digest and utilize the intel you've gained on your competitors thus far. That is why we will hold the third exam in one month, and why the preliminaties had to begin immediately to fit the time frame already laid out." Taking a drag from his pipe, Hiuzen continued. "We want to see your best and so will all of the visitors coming to watch. During the month's preparation, there is no limit on where you seek information from. You may even spy on your competitors. However, engaging in battle before the exam is forbidden and is grounds for disqualification."
"The third exam is a knockout tournament with similar rules to the preliminaries, only we'll be announcing the brackets early," Anko continued, producing a small box. "Inside her are balls numbered one to ten. Each bracket has 5 competitors. To make it fair, numbers four and five will fight first, then nine and ten, allowing them to rest before they fight again."
"Eh?" Naruto frowned. "I don't get it."
Anko shoved the box towards Naruto. "We'll show you a picture in a minute, just take a ball."
Naruto pouted but did as asked, brightening when he saw the number one looking back at him.
Once everyone had pulled a number, Ibiki called out the matches, writing on a clip board as he went. "When I say your number raise your hand so I can record it. Number four Kinuta Dosu, will fight number five, Nara Shikamaru. The winner of that match will fight number three after number one, Uzumaki Naruto and number two, Hyuuga Neji fight."
"Who's three?" Naruto frowned.
"Sasuke probably, no one raised their hand so it's the only number still in the box," Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag, I have to fight more."
"Number nine," Ibiki continued over the boys, "Temari will fight number ten, Kankuro. The winner will battle number eight, Aburame Shino. And the final match is between numbers six and seven, Gaara and Yamanaka Ino."
Around her, Ino saw people shifting in her peripherals, probably sizing up opponents. She didn't dare look towards Gaara. There was no way she could do what Lee did. She'd be killed.
"I'll dismiss you all to commence your training in a moment, are there any final questions before I do?"
"I have one," Shikamaru said, raising his hand. "This tournament, are you suggesting only one of us, the one who wins all of their matches, will become a Chuunin?"
"Not at all. From this point on, you are the ten shortlisted candidates for Chuunin," Hiruzen replied with a grin. "The lords of various countries, as well as myself and the Kazekage will be judging each of your performances and assessing you all. If we believe you display the characteristics needed in a Chuunin, even if you lose your first match, you will be promoted to Chuunin. Similarly, winning the tournament does not necessarily mean you will become a Chuunin if the judging panel does not think you are ready."
"So… we could all become Chuunin?" Temari clarified.
"Indeed." Looking around the Genin once more and seeing no raised hands, Hiruzen called. "You're dismissed to the village proper. You injured comrades will be moved to Konoha hospital over the next few days."